Carrying heavy bags for an extended period of time or distance can tire or even injure a user. Larger luggage bags are often outfitted with wheels so that a user has the option of rolling the luggage bag across the ground. This reduces the amount of weight carried by the user, which is helpful when traveling through an airport terminal or a downtown area.
Luggage bags with wheels often include a handle to aid the user when he or she is rolling a luggage bag across the ground. It is advantageous to have the handle extend from the bag so that a user may walk with a normal gait while towing the luggage bag. However, a handle that is permanently extended from the bag reduces the portability of the bag and makes the bag cumbersome to store, for example, in the storage section of an airplane or a car, etc. Therefore, luggage bags with handles typically have handles that can extend from the bag when the user is towing the bag and retract into the bag when the user needs to store the bag.
Examples of prior art luggage bags may be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. D493,619, 7,322,452, 6,918,474, 7,832,532, 6,651,791, D489,902, D475,199, 6,942,077, D507,109, D492,487, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. These references generally describe a handle connected to a bag via a single extendable towing member wherein the handle is rotatably interconnected to the towing member. The prior art luggage bags and their handle configurations are inherently unstable when a user is negotiating a turn. If the user makes a sharp turn while towing the luggage bag, then the user pulls the handle laterally across the bag such that the bag tips over onto its side.
In addition, the prior art luggage bags cannot fold or collapse into a smaller size due to the rigid frames of the bags. Therefore, while the handle and towing member may retract into the luggage bag, the size the luggage bag is limited by the rigid frame of the bag. In a similar vein, the prior art luggage bags comprise wheels that are connected to the bag or the rigid frame of the bag via an axle, a hub, or a caster system. These wheel connections make it difficult to move or rotate portions of the frame relative to each other to collapse the bag into a smaller size.
Therefore, there is an unmet need for a luggage bag that is stable while turning and collapsible beyond the normal dimensions of the luggage bag and/or the frame of the luggage bag.